Three coatings of decorative chromium, hard chromium and zinc, electrolytically deposited on the C45 steel substrate, are considered in this study. Experimental characterization of the tribological response of the substrate and different coatings against spherical 100Cr6 counterbody is developed with a linear reciprocating tribometer. The results show that the three coatings have similar values for the stabilized coefficient of friction which remains substantially higher than the value of the friction coefficient for the substrate. The decorative chromium coating has the lowest wear resistance. A better wear resistance is obtained with the zinc coating. The first place in terms of wear resistance is occupied by the hard chromium coating and the uncoated substrate which have similar resistance. Keywords: coatings; substrate; electrolytic; chromium; zinc; friction; wear.The term "surface treatments" means all operations: mechanical, chemical, electrochemical or physical which affect the appearance or structure of the material surface to suit the operating conditions data. Surface treatments are variable and can improve the optical properties or appearance, resistance to wet or dry corrosion, thermal or electrical conductivity, response to friction, wear resistance. Treatments such as chromium, zinc, aluminum coatings are now widely used in many industrial and domestic sectors. Treated surfaces may be the seat of the phenomena of friction and wear in case they are in contact with a rigid counterbody. This may cause local fracture of the coating and therefore the activation of the corrosion phenomenon. The response of tribological coatings of chromium electrodeposited on a mild steel substrate was studied in [1]. The authors showed that the coatings have better wear resistance than the uncoated substrate. The wear behavior of electrolytic hard chromium (EHC) and arc PVD CrN coatings under lubrication was investigated in [2] and the researchers concluded that the friction coefficient of EHC is higher than the friction coefficient of CrN but the wear resistance of EHC is lower than that of CrN. The tribological behavior of EHC coatings sliding against ceramic and steel counterparts was investigated in [3]. They showed that in the case of steel ball as a counterbody the wear mechanism of EHC can be divided into three stages: adhesion and formation of debris; formation of abrasive particles and abrasive wear and dominance of abrasive wear. Other researchers have investigated the mechanical and tribological properties of EHC and HVOF (High Velocity Oxy-Fuel) to prove that EHC cannot form a smooth tribofilm [4]. Under high contact pressures this film is easily fractured and partly removed. Therefore EHC coatings undergo higher mass losses and develop higher friction coefficient than the HVOFsprayed coatings in the same conditions. Some other researchers have studied the friction response of electrodeposited coatings of zinc and zinc with ash deposited on the mild steel substrate [5]. They showed that the zinc coating has ...